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Thursday, May 28, 2009

CREATING A MONSTER: USING COMIC ADAPTATIONS OF GREEK MYTHOLOGY TO CHANGE THE READING HABITS OF ONE BOY

By Chris WilsonEditor-in-Geek

I’ve had many educational experiences with children, but one of the most influential came when I enrolled in my graduate level reading class in Fall 2008. Brett (not his real name) was my first real student. I was in charge of every lesson every week for 12 weeks; I was this fifth grader’s after-school reading teacher. My work with him really focused my work in comics and reading and I venture to say my involvement influenced him as well.

I completed a reading inventory and discovered that he really didn’t enjoy reading. He only did it when his mother made him. There was, however, one series he liked: PERCY JACKSON AND THE OLYMPIANS.

It was music to my ears because that series is full of Greek mythology and I had an arsenal of comic adaptations of those ancient stories from Lerner Publishing. After we spent some time completing his IRI (we determined he was reading above grade level, which surprised everyone including his mother) and building relationships he and I started on a journey of our own. I intended for this boy to discover that he loved reading. It was already in there; he just did not know it.

Brett did not struggle in reading. He was reluctant to read and it affected everyone’s perceptions about his reading ability. He was one of those kids who would only read what he wanted to read. Period. The forced compliance toward books he cared nothing about made him reject reading entirely. We educators are, in my humble opinion, pretty good at educating the love of reading right out of kids.

I told him we would only read books he was interested in and that I was going to find some great books like PERCY JACKSON. I asked him if he would try reading comics. Brett trusted me, because of the time spent in the beginning building a relationship, and he agreed.

We started with ODYSSEUS: ESCAPING POSEIDON’S CURSE, which was written by Dan Jolley and illustrated by Thomas Yeates. It is a 48-page, full color adaptation of the story of Odysseus’ journey home, complete with a map, a glossary, a pronunciation guide and suggestions for further reading.

THE LESSON PLANEvery meeting began with a bit of chitchat, an integral part of our relationship building. We talked about his weekend and how he was feeling, things he was interested in. Then, I pre-taught vocabulary to him. I built a list of words from the comic that I thought he would not know or be able to pronounce.

The week 8 vocabulary words I pre-taught were as follows:

Pleaded

Argued

Ashore

Tension

Prevented

Rations

Grazed

Temptation

Meditate

Treachery

Reared

Betrayed

Therefore

Hurriedly

Determined

Advantage

Forgiveness

Willingly

Obliged

Survivor

Slamming

Currents

Wreckage

Spewed

Regained

Drift

Consciousness

Paradise

Wanderer

Nymph

Immediately

Physical

Revealed

Enchantment

Calypso

Homesick

Anguish

Athena

Suffered

Bitterly

Raft

Oath

Toiled

Fashioned

Unused

Provisions

Heartache

Encountered

Ithaca

Suitors

Telemachus

Wrath

Conquered

Brutal

Mortals

Foul

I list all the words to make a point. Comics are often filled with rich vocabulary. This comprised the tough vocabulary in just one section of the book. Although Brett did not understand all these words, we looked at them, pronounced them, and used syntactic and semantic strategies to decode them when we ran across them in the story.

We then read aloud. Comics are prime for a shared read-aloud experience. Giving Brett control over the reading, we did a picture walk through the day’s selection. Brett then picked the character or characters he would read that day. I agreed to read the rest. (This book was split into chapters and we drew the 48-page book out over several weeks.)

At first, I allowed him to choose only one character if reading one character satisfied him. After time, I could give him a wry smile and he would then volunteer to read more. I didn’t force him, but I encouraged him. Because of our relationship, he understood what I was asking and he agreed. Toward the end, he was choosing to read multiple characters. It was his idea, his choice, not mine. Once he discovered that our time together was for him not aimed at him (meaning he maintained significant amounts of control over the experience), he opened up to the experience of reading for enjoyment.

I stopped Brett often and he would retell the story so far and answer questions:

“Why did the men disobey Odysseus? (lower order thinking skill)

Is it wrong for the men to kill some cattle so they would not starve? Why?” (higher order thinking skill)

“Predict what will happen next?” (higher order thinking skill)

After reading, we took a break and he got a snack and we talked more. I often had to test him to track progress, which was done after the break. I then gave him a persuasive writing exercise (100-200 words) where he tried to persuade me to read his book, PERCY JACKSON AND THE OLYMPIANS: THE TITAN’S CURSE.

I purchased his book from the bookstore and made sure he knew it. That act alone, reinforced our relationship and signified the importance of his opinion to me. It also built trust. I encouraged Brett to use a graphic organizer to write his article and gave him the choice to craft it on paper or on the computer. There were a couple of times when he dictated to me and I wrote. He really struggled with writing and I modeled proper writing for him. It also demonstrated that I was willing to do the activity I was asking of him.

THE RESULTSI could have used the data to demonstrate his increase in reading levels. I wasn’t as concerned about that as I was his increase in reading motivation. He was, after all, reading above grade level to begin with.

On our last evening together, I bought Brett the book of his choice. His mother looked at me and said:

“I can’t get him to close a book and stop reading. You’ve created a monster!”

She went on to ask me if I was tutoring again next semester. I was not. To which she responded that Brett would not be back. He didn’t need the tutoring anymore and if I was not going to be there, then he didn’t want to come.

Brett did not need assistance in reading; he needed guidance in discovering the power of literature and he needed the opportunity to choose his own genres and books. Having choice, reading comic adaptations in his interest area, and having a relationship with his teacher created an environment where Brett became a life-long lover of reading. His mother has since reported that he reads a novel every week or two.

If I were a betting man, I would wager that he might go on to read The Iliad, The Odyssey, The Aeneid, and other great canonical works.

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About TGC

The Graphic Classroom is a resource for teachers and librarians to help them stock high quality, educational-worthy, graphic novels and comics in their classroom or school library. I read and review every graphic novel or comic on this blog and give it a rating as to appropriateness for the classroom.

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Would you like your comic or graphic novel reviewed here at THE GRAPHIC CLASSROOM? You can do so in two ways, one of which is guaranteed and the other is not:

1. Send me a copy of the comic or graphic novel. I will read it and review it as soon as possible. You can email me privately and I will give you my mailing address. abikerbard@mac.com

2. You can simply tell me about your creation.

If you send me a copy, then I will review your submission. I will be honest and fair and do my best to get your book reviewed in a timely manner. I am a full time graduate student, so my time is limited. If I receive a lot of books, then I will put them on a first-come, first-reviewed list and do the best I can.

If you cannot or will not send me a media copy of your book, then you can just request that I review it. My money is short, as I am going to school and not working, so you are depending on my ability to afford your book. There is no guarantee that I will get to your work nor any guarantee that I will even review it. If I can afford it and have time to read it, then I will most certainly review it. It's all about the teachers, librarians and kids.

Reviews are never based on free media copies. I am writing my Master's Thesis on the subject of comics in the classroom, so this is important to me. I am committed to this and I take reviews very seriously. I do not rip into books in order to get readership. I will have a critical eye, but I am also excited about helping teachers find great books for the classroom.

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About The Editor

My name is Chris Wilson. My first name is Jack, which is why you see it on the posts, but I usually go by my middle name: Chris. Having worked as the Managing Editor for a weekly newspaper then as the Director of a non-profit for people with disabilities, I have gone back to school. I am now a full time graduate student in the college of education at Missouri State University. I am getting my Masters of Science in Education – Elementary Education.

I know that reading is a problem for many students today. I feel strongly that comics and graphic novels can be one way that we can combat this problem. Graphics novels should be in every public school library and classroom library. That is why I am choosing to write my thesis on using comics and graphic novels in the elementary classroom.

Email Meabikerbard@mac.com

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Some comic literature is not appropriate for every classroom, or every community. Some are not appropriate for any classroom. You need to review any piece of comic literature for yourself and determine if it is appropriate for your grade, class, curriculum, goals, school and community.